ABAKILIKI: Residents of Ohaozara Local Government Area of Ebonyi State have expressed strong support for Osborn Umahi, son of Minister of Works, Senator David Umahi, following his emergence as the new council chairman.
The 28-year-old Osborn Umahi was among the 13 newly elected local government chairmen sworn into office on Tuesday by Ebonyi State Governor Francis Nwifuru.
His emergence has continued to generate excitement in Ohaozara, with residents declaring their readiness to support his administration and its plans for the local government.
At a civic reception organised in his honour at Obiozara, Ohaozara Local Government Area, on Tuesday evening, residents and community leaders pledged their support for the new chairman.
The Chairman of the Occasion and former Ebonyi State Commissioner for Health, Dr Daniel Umezuruike, described Umahi as a vibrant and intelligent young man capable of transforming the local government.
Umezuruike said the choice of Umahi was consistent with the established system of rotation and power-sharing among the communities that make up Ohaozara.
I want to say that the coming onboard of Engr. Osborn Umahi as the council chairman is divine because I have been following events that led to his emergence, he said.
According to him, Ohaozara operates an organised system of political rotation, with different communities taking turns to produce the chairman of the local government.
The people of Ugwulangwu have gone for four years of two tenures, the people of Okposi just completed their own four years of two tenures, Umezuruike explained.
He said the turn had now moved to Uburu, whose people had, for several months, been demanding that Osborn Umahi be allowed to lead the council.
Umezuruike described Senator David Umahi as a respected father and leader and said the people of Uburu had strongly supported his son’s candidacy.
He further disclosed that Governor Francis Nwifuru had also backed Umahi’s emergence during a stakeholders’ meeting.
“From the other axis, the state Governor Francis Nwifuru, came to this local government and said that he will like the son of our father to become the chairman of the local government,” he said.
Umezuruike said the governor subsequently declared at a stakeholders’ meeting that the chairmanship position should be given to Osborn Umahi, a development he said was welcomed by residents across Ohaozara.
He added that Umahi received widespread support during the campaign and that residents turned out in large numbers to vote for him during the local government election.
According to him, Umahi secured more than 63,000 votes in the election.
Also speaking at the event, former Commissioner for Local Government and Chieftaincy Matters, Chief Samuel Okoronkwo, described Umahi’s emergence as a new beginning for the people of Ohaozara.
“Today is a day of freedom, freedom from intimidation, freedom from unnecessary shackles of mispremitaton,” Okoronkwo declared.
He expressed optimism that the new administration would bring positive changes to the local government and improve the relationship between the council and its people.
Responding to the show of support, Osborn Umahi thanked the people of Ohaozara for electing him and for organising the reception in his honour.
The new chairman assured residents that his administration would pursue transparent, purposeful and people-oriented governance.
Umahi also pledged to justify the confidence reposed in him by the electorate and work towards the development and progress of Ohaozara Local Government Area.
His emergence comes amid a broader political transition across Ebonyi, following the inauguration of the 13 newly elected local government chairmen by Governor Nwifuru.
With strong backing from community leaders and residents, expectations are now high that the young chairman will translate the goodwill surrounding his election into tangible development across Ohaozara.
